Heavy rainfall cancels several railway services

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Sun, Sep 22, 2013 - Page 1

The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) canceled several trains yesterday due to heavy rainfall brought by Typhoon Usagi and announced a change in its ticket refund policy to suspend the refund service fee, starting from the day the typhoon sea alert was issued on Friday.

The administration canceled all trains on the South Link Line (南迴線), the railway line between Hualien and Taitung, the Pingsi branch line (平溪線) and the Alishan (阿里山) mountain railway yesterday. They also canceled express trains at Yilan and the North Link Line (北迴線).

Local trains running at sections including Yilan, the North Link Line, the line between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County’s Fangliao (枋寮), the Neiwan branch line (內灣線) and the Jiji Line (集集線) were subject to cancelation, depending on the amount of rainfall yesterday.

The TRA said 74 express trains, affecting 37,000 passengers, and 44 local trains, affecting 2,700 passengers, were canceled as of 2pm yesterday.

In addition, the administration loosened its ticket refund policy, temporarily eliminating a service fee for passengers who did not take trains that did run or were canceled from the day a typhoon sea alert has been issued by the Central Weather Bureau. Passengers can get ticket refunds at any train station within 15 days.

Previously, the TRA only voided the refund service fee for passengers who did not take trains that ran between the time a typhoon land alert has been issued and four hours after the land alert was lifted.

The high-speed rail services resumed normal operation yesterday, but were subject to delays due to strong winds and heavy rainfall along some sections which led to trains slowing down in these sections, the Taiwan High Speed Rail said.

Ticket refunds for passengers that did not take the high-speed trains between the time the typhoon sea alert was issued and the time it is lifted are also free from refund service fees. Refunds can be collected at any station within one year.